


Indulgence

by miera



Category: Legend of the Seeker
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Denial, F/M, Masturbation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-21
Updated: 2010-10-21
Packaged: 2017-10-12 19:47:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/128397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miera/pseuds/miera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kahlan takes a few minutes for herself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Indulgence

**Author's Note:**

> Based on tv series canon. If I have made any book!canon errors I apologize.

Kahlan couldn't suppress a tiny moan of pleasure as she sank into the delicious heat of the bath. It had been so long since she'd enjoyed such an indulgence and her body unknotted as the warm water surrounded her. The room was dim, lit only by the comforting fire and clean – if borrowed – clothes waited for her until her own would be dry.

They were as safe as was possible for the moment, sheltered in the house of a widow who aided the resistance in this area. Lina had taken one look at Kahlan and bid her daughters to start heating a bath for the Confessor. Kahlan had protested but the set of the older woman's jaw had warned her this was one argument she was destined to lose.

A warm bath, a hot meal and a bed to sleep in seemed luxurious by comparison to their normal days. The deprivation helped keep them focused. Tucked away in safety and comfort, or at least the illusion thereof, it would be easier to forget what they were fighting for. When the simple pleasures of life became luxuries, it kept her mind on the goal.

Still, her whole life had been about control and restraint. She could have this one innocent moment of joy. Kahlan leaned back against the edge of the tub and let herself float, eyes closed, allowing the hot water caress her body and her mind to drift away from the cares of a Confessor and the Seeker's quest, if only briefly.

Her minute of peace ended with a sigh and she turned her attention to cleaning herself. She dunked her head and lathered soap against her scalp, then rinsed her long hair. When she sat up, she tossed the wet strands over her shoulder and focused on scrubbing the sweat and grime and blood from her skin, finding some new scars to go along with the older ones. She examined them dispassionately, but she remembered Richard's reaction the last time she'd been hurt in a scuffle with some D'Harans. His eyes had flared with concern for her and deadly anger for the men who had harmed his Confessor.

She'd made light of the injury, just as she never once complained about sleeping in the cold night air with no shelter, going days on end walking without eating, or any of the other trials that came with the quest. At first she'd feared Richard would think her weak for such admissions, but now she was more afraid of his guilt.

She could see it in her mind, the way his lips would turn down and his eyes would look at her with remorse if she so much as joked about sleeping in the rain and the wind. He wanted to protect her too much already. It was dangerous for him to spend so much energy on her well-being when so much was at stake.

But here, cocooned away in the steamy room, Kahlan admitted that knowing Richard felt so solicitous for her generated a warmth inside of her stronger than a hot bath. She much preferred the look he sometimes – more frequently of late, if she'd been counting, which she pretended she had not – had on his face when he looked at her. She was no fool. She understood the lust between men and women and she knew that fed some of Richard's feelings for her. But there was something else in his eyes, something more than mere hunger for her body. It was more than a lack of the fear he should have had of a Confessor. It was a light that had never been in the eyes of another man who looked at her, and that light drew her in no matter how hard she tried to ignore it.

She could envision that look too easily, just as she could envision Richard kneeling next to her now. His shirt would be off. Spirits, it was much, _much_ too easy for her mind to conjure that vision. But he would kneel there, next to the tub, smiling at her with that fearless happiness in his eyes as he took the washcloth from her hand and took over the task of cleaning her skin for himself.

The cloth wouldn't protect him, of course, but that wasn't why he would use it. Richard would enjoy teasing her and himself that way. In this he would have patience, and his desire would make him want to draw this out for both their sakes.

Her body flushed with a new kind of heat as the rough edges of the washcloth brushed against her skin, along her arm and her neck and then lower.

Richard wouldn't be content with that barrier forever. Eventually his hands glide over her skin, his fingers warm and strong, more calloused than hers but so gentle on her body. Her nipples ached as soft touches were replaced with firmer caresses and her heart sped up as her body heated further.

He would lean over and look into her eyes as his hand delved lower, skimming across her belly under the water and down, until his fingers slipped between her legs. Her head fell back and her knees banged against the sides of the tub as she spread herself wider. He touched her slowly, surely, bringing her arousal higher and higher, all the while staring into her eyes.

Her hand gripped the edge of the tub so tightly her knuckles went white. Her body jerked hard enough to splash the water while in her fantasy, Richard teased her until the pleasure overwhelmed her, rushing through her body down to her fingertips, making her toes curl while he just kept looking at her with awe and joy, ecstatic at witnessing her release at his hands.

Kahlan panted for a moment, shivering as she became aware of her skin and the cooling water. It took a long minute until she could force her limbs to work. She planted her feet carefully before standing to make sure she wouldn't slip. Fortunately she had stepped out of the tub and was wrapped in a towel when there was a light knock at the door.

"Kahlan?"

She froze. Her heart thumped almost painfully at the sound of his voice, tripping on the heels of her fantasies. Rationally she knew there was no way Richard could know what had just been going through her mind, but she was painfully aware of her nakedness and that he was so close, just on the other side of the door.

She cleared her throat quietly before answering, "Yes?"

There was a pause and she knew, somehow, that Richard was as aware of her in that moment as she was of him. The door separated them. He couldn't see her. But she could picture him standing in the hallway, staring at the wood, imagining her body bare and wet and only a few paces away.

The silence stretched and her chest felt heavy. She could almost hear him, breathing in unison with her, the desire to open the door and damn the consequences almost palpable between them.

He cleared his throat and she could practically feel him shaking himself. "Lina said supper will be ready soon."

Kahlan closed her eyes, keeping her voice from shaking by sheer force of will. "I'll be out in a minute."

She didn't move. And she could hear that Richard didn't either, not until another slow minute had passed while they both stood there, only separated by a few steps. A few steps and so many other things.

Finally he did turn away, and once his footsteps had faded, she rubbed her skin with the towel almost mercilessly before putting on her borrowed clothes. She wrung her hair dry as much as she could. She paused before the fire, closing her eyes and mentally drawing the cloak of the Confessor around her, hoping against hope it would help her walk into the other room and meet Richard's eyes without blushing, that the mask of duty would keep him from guessing what was in her thoughts.

Even as she turned to the door, she doubted it.


End file.
